This story is set before Draco meets Bowen. So, Draco is, in fact, unnamed. He will be referred to as "The Dragon" until further notice.

"Dratted wound acting up…"

The dragon scratched at his chest. The scale was burning like it always had, but now it itched as well. He raised a claw and absentmindedly scratched the spot, but he only succeeded in making it hurt more. The dragon winced and put his hand down, looking for some water to soak in.

He was concentrating on finding water so hard, he almost didn't hear the sharp intake of breath behind him. He turned his head around to see the stunned face of a human quickly disappearing behind a rock.

Grinning slightly, he turned back around and played stupid. He knew the human wasn't going anywhere. It was sitting just behind that boulder, and-…

But suddenly, he heard a muffled scratching sound. He turned to his right and saw the same human, clambering behind another rock and out of sight, almost ten yards away from where he expected it to be! This one was fast and tricky.

Might be bad if it's a knight wanting to make a name for itself… the dragon thought idly.

He stood on his four legs and shot a fireball just above a human's height level over the boulder.

"You may as well come out. Dragon's aren't stupid, you know," he commented. "A knight won't be able to fight one of us if he's cowering behind a rock."

A pain shot through his left thigh. He flipped his head around to see the quivering shaft of an arrow sticking out of his leg. Startled, he plucked it out with his claws and held it up.

Something was strange about it. He examined it and discovered that it was tipped differently; the arrow part was sharply fashioned metal tipped with some sort of strange stone. He thought it might be mica or shale, but it smarted painfully in his leg, which was what he expected it was meant to do.

"I told you to come out! Little arrows won't do much but make me mad," he hissed to the darkness.

He glared at where the arrow had come from. Stomping over, he picked up the entire boulder and was amazed to find that no one was behind it.

"Knight! Where are you?"

Another arrow hit his claw. He winced and sucked in a breath quickly. Pulling it out, he flung it down and crushed it with his palm.

Before going over to check, he did some mental geometry. Every time an attack came, the next would come from about one hundred and sixty degrees to the left…

He whipped around and pounced. A shape in the darkness was pinned down instantly by his mighty claws and the dragon grinned as he saw that he was right.

"I told you knight, you can't fool a drag-…"

His words were stopped as he examined his quarry in the moonlight.

"Oh…not a knight, I see, but a lass?" He didn't lift his claw, however. He had learned to never trust a human that had attacked him so recently in the past.

"As good as a knight! I'll have you know, dragon, that I was quite close to hitting your eye until you moved!" she raged.

"Oh, were you?" he laughed. "That's funny, because I don't count two little shots in my leg and my claw as anywhere near my eye."

He leaned close and smiled. "And I have two eyes, girl. One lost still leaves another to see by."

"I know it too well," she returned, and he was taken aback. Shifting his position, he noticed something he hadn't before. She was wearing a crude eye-patch over her left eye.

"Hmm…so you do. That doesn't change the fact that you have poor aim."

"Having one usable eye can do that to you, you stupid beast." She attempted to free herself, but he wouldn't budge.

"Why on earth would a lass like you want to kill a big hulking 'beast' like me?" he inquired, not too interested. He even lay down, keeping one palm over her at all times.

"Because you…you…"

"Because I have nothing to do with you and you figured I'd be a pushover practice for you to join the knights? I'm sorry missy, but the last time I checked, ladies were not allowed in the Order."

"Shows what you know! A quick haircut and some men's clothing and you're as good as a man! So long as you have the skills, they wouldn't even mention my being a woman!" she fumed, still trying to extricate herself. She had given up pushing his claw off and was now struggling to reach an arrow that had fallen nearby. "Besides, I don't even want to be a knight. I have my own purposes for doing you in!"

The dragon took his other claw away from its position holding his head up and nonchalantly flicked the arrow away. She took one look and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Are you going to eat me or what? I have a lifetime planned, and if you don't kill me, I'll have to kill you. I won't stop."

"And how many times have I heard that? I think I might have had at least twenty people who swore to kill me, of which fifteen have it personal. So you're nothing new, lass."